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Tuesday, July 06, 2010

By
Diana Hsieh

A while back, I attempted to make these coconut flour brownies for a discussion meeting of Front Range Objectivism hosted at our house. Brownies constitute a 20-year tradition at these meetings, but since many of us have adopted a paleo diet, I was hoping to bake something a bit easier on the body than standard brownie composed mostly of flour, sugar, and vegetable oil.

At the outset, I assumed that I could make my own coconut flour. I thought I could do so just by using my food processor with unsweetened coconut flakes from Whole Foods. It was my first attempt at paleo-baking, and on that point, it was FAIL. Due to the fat, the coconut flakes turned into coconut butter, not coconut flour.

So I modified the recipe as follows -- and much to my surprise, the results were quite good. They weren't really brownies -- more like a chocolate coconut cake.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Brush all sides of an 8" by 8" pan with coconut oil.

Beat softened cream cheese with electric mixer until smooth. Beat in butter, vanilla, and sugar. Add eggs one at a time to cream cheese mixture, and beat until incorporated.

Whisk together dry ingredients, including coconut butter and almond flour. (To combine those well, you might need to pulse them in the food processor.) Add dry ingredients and heavy cream.

Pour chocolate mixture into prepared pan, and smooth top with a spatula. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, and top feels firm to the touch.

When done, place pan on wire rack and cool completely. Slice, perhaps serve with whipped cream, and ... EAT!

Regarding the sugar, I don't think that 1/4 cup for an 8x8 cake is much. That's just 12 teaspoons, with just 4 g of carbs per teaspoon. So long as you don't eat the whole pan, that's just not a big deal. (Rapadura sugar isn't necessary, but I like the molasses-y taste.) With the coconut, that amount of sugar made it plenty sweet. Next time, however, I'll likely try stevia, as I've used a bit of that with good results in paleo cheesecake. I'd also like to try adding more chocolate.

Sadly, I forgot to take a picture. However, I can say that people enjoyed it. It was consumed in short order, whereas the regular brownies were mostly forgotten.

Update: @Qwertz0 made it! Here's a blurry picture of it, plus whipped cream and berries, that he posted to Twitter. Click to enlarge.

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Coconut Butter Chocolate Cake, Version 1.0

A while back, I attempted to make these coconut flour brownies for a discussion meeting of Front Range Objectivism hosted at our house. Brownies constitute a 20-year tradition at these meetings, but since many of us have adopted a paleo diet, I was hoping to bake something a bit easier on the body than standard brownie composed mostly of flour, sugar, and vegetable oil.

At the outset, I assumed that I could make my own coconut flour. I thought I could do so just by using my food processor with unsweetened coconut flakes from Whole Foods. It was my first attempt at paleo-baking, and on that point, it was FAIL. Due to the fat, the coconut flakes turned into coconut butter, not coconut flour.

So I modified the recipe as follows -- and much to my surprise, the results were quite good. They weren't really brownies -- more like a chocolate coconut cake.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Brush all sides of an 8" by 8" pan with coconut oil.

Beat softened cream cheese with electric mixer until smooth. Beat in butter, vanilla, and sugar. Add eggs one at a time to cream cheese mixture, and beat until incorporated.

Whisk together dry ingredients, including coconut butter and almond flour. (To combine those well, you might need to pulse them in the food processor.) Add dry ingredients and heavy cream.

Pour chocolate mixture into prepared pan, and smooth top with a spatula. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, and top feels firm to the touch.

When done, place pan on wire rack and cool completely. Slice, perhaps serve with whipped cream, and ... EAT!

Regarding the sugar, I don't think that 1/4 cup for an 8x8 cake is much. That's just 12 teaspoons, with just 4 g of carbs per teaspoon. So long as you don't eat the whole pan, that's just not a big deal. (Rapadura sugar isn't necessary, but I like the molasses-y taste.) With the coconut, that amount of sugar made it plenty sweet. Next time, however, I'll likely try stevia, as I've used a bit of that with good results in paleo cheesecake. I'd also like to try adding more chocolate.

Sadly, I forgot to take a picture. However, I can say that people enjoyed it. It was consumed in short order, whereas the regular brownies were mostly forgotten.

Update: @Qwertz0 made it! Here's a blurry picture of it, plus whipped cream and berries, that he posted to Twitter. Click to enlarge.